[Overview] Pipes

link - https://docs.nestjs.com/pipes

Binding pipes

@Get(':id')
async findOne(@Param('id', ParseIntPipe) id: number) {
  return this.catsService.findOne(id);
}

// Request
GET localhost:3000/abc

// Response
{
  "statusCode": 400,
  "message": "Validation failed (numeric string is expected)",
  "error": "Bad Request"
}

@Get(':id')
async findOne(
  @Param('id', new ParseIntPipe({ errorHttpStatusCode: HttpStatus.NOT_ACCEPTABLE }))
  id: number,
) {
  return this.catsService.findOne(id);
}

@Get()
async findOne(@Query('id', ParseIntPipe) id: number) {
  return this.catsService.findOne(id);
}

@Get(':uuid')
async findOne(@Param('uuid', new ParseUUIDPipe()) uuid: string) {
  return this.catsService.findOne(uuid);
}

Custom pipes

// validation.pipe.ts
import { PipeTransform, Injectable, ArgumentMetadata } from '@nestjs/common';

@Injectable()
export class ValidationPipe implements PipeTransform {
  transform(value: any, metadata: ArgumentMetadata) {
    return value;
  }
}

Schema based validation

@Post()
async create(@Body() createCatDto: CreateCatDto) {
  this.catsService.create(createCatDto);
}

// create-cat.dto.ts
export class CreateCatDto {
  name: string;
  age: number;
  breed: string;
}

npm install zod

$ npm install --save zod

Object schema validation

import { PipeTransform, ArgumentMetadata, BadRequestException } from '@nestjs/common';
import { ZodSchema  } from 'zod';

export class ZodValidationPipe implements PipeTransform {
  constructor(private schema: ZodSchema) {}

  transform(value: unknown, metadata: ArgumentMetadata) {
    try {
      const parsedValue = this.schema.parse(value);
      return parsedValue;
    } catch (error) {
      throw new BadRequestException('Validation failed');
    }
  }
}

Binding validation pipes

import { z } from 'zod';

export const createCatSchema = z
  .object({
    name: z.string(),
    age: z.number(),
    breed: z.string(),
  })
  .required();

export type CreateCatDto = z.infer<typeof createCatSchema>;

// cats.controller.ts
@Post()
@UsePipes(new ZodValidationPipe(createCatSchema))
async create(@Body() createCatDto: CreateCatDto) {
  this.catsService.create(createCatDto);
}

npm install class-validator

$ npm i --save class-validator class-transformer

Class validator

// create-cat.dto.ts
import { IsString, IsInt } from 'class-validator';

export class CreateCatDto {
  @IsString()
  name: string;

  @IsInt()
  age: number;

  @IsString()
  breed: string;
}

// validation.pipe.ts
import { PipeTransform, Injectable, ArgumentMetadata, BadRequestException } from '@nestjs/common';
import { validate } from 'class-validator';
import { plainToInstance } from 'class-transformer';

@Injectable()
export class ValidationPipe implements PipeTransform<any> {
  async transform(value: any, { metatype }: ArgumentMetadata) {
    if (!metatype || !this.toValidate(metatype)) {
      return value;
    }
    const object = plainToInstance(metatype, value);
    const errors = await validate(object);
    if (errors.length > 0) {
      throw new BadRequestException('Validation failed');
    }
    return value;
  }

  private toValidate(metatype: Function): boolean {
    const types: Function[] = [String, Boolean, Number, Array, Object];
    return !types.includes(metatype);
  }
}

// cats.controller.ts
@Post()
async create(
  @Body(new ValidationPipe()) createCatDto: CreateCatDto,
) {
  this.catsService.create(createCatDto);
}

Global scoped pipes

// main.ts
async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);
  app.useGlobalPipes(new ValidationPipe());
  await app.listen(process.env.PORT ?? 3000);
}
bootstrap();

// app.module.ts
import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { APP_PIPE } from '@nestjs/core';

@Module({
  providers: [
    {
      provide: APP_PIPE,
      useClass: ValidationPipe,
    },
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

Transformation use case

// parse-int.pipe.ts
import { PipeTransform, Injectable, ArgumentMetadata, BadRequestException } from '@nestjs/common';

@Injectable()
export class ParseIntPipe implements PipeTransform<string, number> {
  transform(value: string, metadata: ArgumentMetadata): number {
    const val = parseInt(value, 10);
    if (isNaN(val)) {
      throw new BadRequestException('Validation failed');
    }
    return val;
  }
}


@Get(':id')
async findOne(@Param('id', new ParseIntPipe()) id) {
  return this.catsService.findOne(id);
}


@Get(':id')
findOne(@Param('id', UserByIdPipe) userEntity: UserEntity) {
  return userEntity;
}

Providing defaults

@Get()
async findAll(
  @Query('activeOnly', new DefaultValuePipe(false), ParseBoolPipe) activeOnly: boolean,
  @Query('page', new DefaultValuePipe(0), ParseIntPipe) page: number,
) {
  return this.catsService.findAll({ activeOnly, page });
}